Alessandra Martines

Alessandra Martines born 19 September 1963 is an Italian French dancer and actress mainly working in the English French and Italianspeaking worlds She started young in ballet on opera stages in Switzerland France the United States and then Italy before becoming a lead on television for RAI captured ballets and entertainment shows the Italian national public broadcasting in the eighties She is primarily known for portraying the main role in the cult Fantaghirò series consisting of five films 19911996 still regularly rerun across Europe as of 2020 and for her work in auteur productions such as nine films by Claude Lelouch to whom she was married until 2009 She was awarded numerous prizes including the Best Actress Telegatto for The Cave of the Golden Rose 1991 the Grolla doro for Edda it 2005 the Silver Hugo for Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival 1998 for Chance or Coincidence the Diamanti al Cinema Award in Cannes 2007 or the 2009 European Golden Globe in Rome In 2008 she was made Knight of the Ordre national du Mérite awarded by the President of the French Republic She received the lifetime achievement Kineo Award at the 71st Venice International Film Festival in 2014 Second cousin of Carla Bruni and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi she moved to France with her family at the age of five As a teenager she enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris where she studied solfeggio history and theory of dance and classical music and dance Martines debuted at a young age as a dancer at the Zurich Opera House in 1972 After some time working in the United States including the Chicago City Ballet she moved to Rome where she worked at the Teatro dellOpera In 1985 she began her collaboration with RAI with the lunchtime chat quiz show Pronto chi gioca she later gained great popularity with the Saturday Night shows Fantastico and Europa Europa and then for her portrayal of Princess Fantaghirò in the Fantaghirò series In cinema she is best known for her interpretations under the direction of her exhusband the French director Claude Lelouch in several film including Les Misérables and And now Ladies and Gentlemen She also starred on stage most notably in Lappartamento by Franca Valeri